#7. An Art A Day - Day 6 Cosplaying Another of My Characters

It turned out that cosplaying was addictive. :P

After fidgeting over whether I should do this again or not, I decided to do it again.

This time, I'm cosplaying Miso Choi (최미소, 17), another character for my fantasy drama project, Crossing. (http://blog.naver.com/haejinsung)

She is a melancholic writer who is very much shut inside.

She spent more time in hospital then at school because of her physical illness.

She is also pretty depressed. She was going to commit suicide when her soul was suddenly switched with another person, who had a lot of reason to stay alive (for revenge and love..... :P).

This is my drawing of her. You can see it and my explanations in: 

http://haejinsung.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/5-a-doodle-a-day-day-89-mapping-a-town-imaging-a-character-iii/

The tricky thing about creating this character is that she could end up being such a stereotypical female heroine in lachrymal melodrama. She does not cry, not for her own sake, so she is not teary-teary, but still! 

Well, anyway,

I did try to create that .. how shall I say.. haunting looks in her. 

I also tried to make her look different from another female protagonist, Ji-Eun. (drawings and further explanations can be found here: http://haejinsung.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/5-a-doodle-a-day-day-12-drawing-a-character-ji-eun/. I cosplayed her a few days ago. (which can be seen here: http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/04/7-art-day-day-3-cosplaying-one-of-my.html)

Ji-Eun

vs

Miso.

Do I look different?

Some of the transforming process:

Me with no makeup :P

After applying a lot of concealers to make my skin look a tone or two lighter. I imagined her to look pale.
But the photo does not show much :(

After changing the shape of my brows, eyes, and lips, I put on a black dress she usually wears. I also wore a black knit hat (I suddenly forgot what it's called..) to hide my hair and add a bit more "darkness" in my looks.

Of course I do not look exactly like my image of her in my mind.... :P

I look ... a bit... like a .... ghost? Ewwwww~

I'm trying to make her character a bit saucy and cynical in a very calm, calm, way. So she wouldn't smirk while making satirical comments at her brave yet reckless and thoughtless partner (I mean, the one whose soul was switched with hers). 

I think she is a kind of person who can act out the thought she decided right away without hesitation, when she thinks that it is important for someone else (but she wasn't able to take her own life away that easily...). She could do really dangerous or even terrible and violent things for others' sake, often without telling anybody about it. In fact she wouldn't feel any need to tell somebody. She had long lost hope in communication.

Er... then again, I returned to my own self in a millisecond.

I love this effect in the web cam the most ... fufufufufu.

This time I am glad that I got to develop this character a bit further while cosplaying.
I felt pretty sad and alone when I was posing as Miso. :(

#7. An Art A Day - Day 4 Origami Furniture

For day 4 I made these origami furniture. 

I was thinking of building a little model for a residence building in my story project Crossing. (http://blog.naver.com/haejinsung) I didn't have to of course, but since I'm doing "An Art A Day" project, I thought it may be interesting.

So I went to origami sites. There are really good sites out there, this one in my monitor (http://en.origami-club.com/) even shows an animation for folding each origami, which was such a huge help for me, since I am prone to confuse left-right-up-down in the diagram..)

I didn't have origami papers, so I used post-its. :P

But while I was making these, I changed my mind about building a model. It would not only be time-consuming but also be quite difficult! I mean with my skill I cannot build a small building with about twenty rooms, all different from one another!

...So I gave up on that and just made some furniture.
...And I think they are cute..... xo

A desk, chair, and bed!

After I finished making these five little objects, I was surprised how peaceful-looking they were.

In real life, in a real room, hardly anything can be that peaceful- and happy-looking.

It's a small world that is like a dream... :)

#7. An Art A Day - Day 5 Lego Characters

For today's art project, I made lego figures of my characters for my story project Crossing. (http://blog.naver.com/haejinsung)

This "An Art A Day" project really makes me think of my story in a ... well, how shall I put it... creative or different or somewhat unnecessary ways. By unnecessary I mean it is not really required of a writer to make lego figures of one's characters. XP 

But whatever! It was fun to make these and I wouldn't have thought of making these little ones if not for this project ;)

These are eight protagonists for my story plus four other characters. 

I got the lego figure template from here, and drew my characters' faces, hair, and clothing.

Then I made a huge blunder.

Well, I've never drawn a lego figure, and I've never drawn it in a blunt SHARPIE MARKER!!

But my everyday pen, which can be used for writing and only for writing, did not even work over pencil, so the Sharpie marker was pretty much the only choice left for me.

I regret it. 

The marker was so blunt that I wasn't able to draw subtle(?) expressions of my characters.

I should not have gone pass the art supplies shop yesterday thinking that I can do without some decent pen for the sake of money.

But I am also aware that it's not just about the pen but my experience and above all my skills.

Oh well. :/ I'm not a professional artist after all... and it's just for fun!

So I went on to scan it and color it. I originally intended to choose the colors meticulously so that they resemble what I had in mind... But then it didn't look so much like lego figures!! So I decided to go for these strong primary colors (?). 

So you see, the characters' clothings do not precisely match their lifestyle as well. The second figure on the middle row is Han-Mo, a passive and incompetent school principal, and he does not wear those bright pink pants! XD

Characters:
There are four pairs whose souls were switched with one another.

Pair one: Jong-Mu (17) and Han-Mo (41). (강종무-나한모)
A delinquent high school student aspiring to be a macho and a timid principal who has no power in his school.

You can see my drawings and explanations of them here: http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/03/5-doodle-day-day-6-constructing.html

Pair 2: Ji-Ung (41) and Jae-Yong (17). (변지웅-임재용)
A lazy school janitor and a nerdy, hard-grained student.

Their drawings and further explanations can be seen in this post: http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/03/5-doodle-day-imaging-characters-ii.html

Pair 3: Soo-Oh (18) and Ji-Eun (18). (장수오-탁지은)

A popular boy who is in reality an ill-tempered womanizer, and a gloomy loner girl who is when outside school a miniature artist with a distinctive style for her art and looks. :)

 \

Detailed explanations and drawings of Soo-Oh and Ji-Eun can be seen here http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/03/5-doodle-day-day-1-girl-in-blue-soo-oh.html

and here: http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/03/5-doodle-day-day-12-drawing-character.html

Another drawing of both of them at school:

http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/04/5-doodle-day-day-14-comparison-pair-i.html

And also my clumsy cosplay of Ji-Eun (for fun's sake X)) can be seen here. :) http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/04/7-art-day-day-3-cosplaying-one-of-my.html

And the last... pair 4: Miso (17) and Haneul (27) (최미소-천하늘)

A melancholic and sick girl and a hot-tempered guy who was planning to commit a revengeful crime when their souls were switched :)

For my drawing of Miso and further explanations, please click here: http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/03/5-doodle-day-day-8-town-imaging.html

This is my recent drawing of Haneul. A tanned electrician who used to be a pure-hearted guy in love (with some other girl)

And, other important characters :)

Hyui-Ma (?) and Hwang-Jae (27). (휘마, 도황재)

Hyui-Ma is a clumsy newbie soul reaper who messes up everything and the one who switched the souls of the eight. Hwangjae is a gang member that Haneul wants to kill.... but since Haneul and Miso's souls were switched, and Hwangjae cares for Miso, things get a bit complicated.. 

My (somewhat failed) drawings and explanations of Hyuima's personality and looks can be seen here: http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/04/2-character-day-hyui-ma-fail.html

And that of Hwangjae is here: http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/04/2-character-day-hwangjae.html

Won-Seok (18) (선우원석): He is an athletic guy that Ji-Eun has a long crash on. 

My drawings, explanations, and complaints (..) about him can be seen here: 

http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/03/5-doodle-day-day-13-another-character.html

And, finally--- (actually I wanted to draw more characters, but, well, for now!)

Jaesoo Noh, a.k.a. Nono (노재수, 일명 노노)

He is the vice principal in the high school. And what a personality he has. Basically, he is all against students' activities other than studying. He nags Han-Mo, the principal, to be more strict, and is in ill-terms with Jong-Mu, the delinquent student. :P

Actually I think he is a pretty amiable, I mean adorable character. With his constant nagging, narrow-mindedness, chicken-heartedness (..), three strands of hair, and so on... X)

He is actually a character from my very first screenplay. I just brought him over here because I could not find anyone more suitable for a nagging vice principal. Above is the drawing I made in 200...5 or 6. :)

He secretly adores another school teacher, but he is too shy and clumsy to approach her! X(

Well, so after I made these lego figures, I started to play around it a bit.

(I used to play lego a LOT with my two brothers when I was young... =v=*)

This is the map of the important accident, where the souls of eight were switched.

I positioned the characters where they were when the accident happened.

And the residence that some of the students live....
I have imaged how it would look like, and also how its corridor walls would look like and function.
The post can be seen here: http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/04/6-designing-place-day-day-3-corridor.html

Then I put them in an envelope which template I downloaded from the Moleskine homepage..

http://www.moleskine.com/mymoleskine/msk_templates.php

And attached a hell lot of stickers, just because it is absolutely necessary for any envelope to look this haphazard, and the notes on the envelop should not be easily identifiable by all means. XP Yep, I was having one last fun.

Front

Back

By the way, the doodling in the notebook shows Jae-Yong and his arch-enemy dancing along the music they both love:

So, no, my having fun and messing around with my story and characters do not end here.

I should, though, hurry up and complete plotting....

This art project took more time than I originally planned to. :P

But to me, the creater, things like making these are such indulging exercises! X-(

#7. An Art A Day - Day 3 Cosplaying One of My Characters

For today's art I chose to cosplay one of my characters, Ji-Eun.

The art of cosplay makeup! Tadaa!

 

I  do not intend to star on my films or dramas, please note, never.

But I thought it would be fun to pose like one of my characters once in a while.

A writer's day-off. ;)

Last night, I was thinking that a few of my characters needs to be further defined and distinguished from each other. I was doing yoga, I looked into a mirror, and I thought, "well, one character has very sad eyes, so her eyes would be a bit lower on the sides than my eyes, and another character will have very big fluttering eyes, kinda torn (??) upwards in the end than mine are, and then the other..."  

Ohhh. Then the idea of cosplay crossed my mind. I could try to transform myself into one of my characters and find out more about them!

That was my intention. But the part about finding more about them was a failure.

Because cosplay makeup was no joke. It requires not only passion but also technique and an ability to capture and reproduce the characteristics of the character/person being cosplayed.

An example of cosplay (a superb one, I think), as Angelina Jolie!!! Children.. this kind of gigantic transformation is... possible..

(But please don't compare the above example with my humble cosplay.. it's my first time! ><)

And also  because I happened to choose a character who is moderately well defined already. But I thought she would be easier for me, a novice, to cosplay than the other two female characters who are less developed. :P

Well, so here it is, again, Ji-Eun, one of my protagonists for my fantasy drama Crossing.

She is a plain and gloomy loner at school, but outside school, she is a miniature artist with a distinctive style for her art and looks. But she is the same bluff, unsociable girl. She has this...er, indifferent-looking, apathetic, or a bit dazed look on her face....plus a bit of rebelliousness, I guess. (And of course she is not an indifferent person inside :>)

(you can see her full figure, close-ups, and my explanations here: 

http://projectmacy365.blogspot.ca/2012/03/5-doodle-day-day-12-drawing-character.html)

This is how I look. I took this picture when I came back home from clinic today.

Actually I tried to shoot how I changed from above to below, but thanks to my super high-quality camera and my super-awesome technique, they are pretty all out of focus or something. :P 

Er.. so I did makeup to look like her, braided my hair a bit (for the first time since.. dunno... elementary school??!), and wore a hoodie. Sadly I do not own a very colorful and distinctive wardrobe as she does. This hoodie was the geeky (?) end of my wardrobe :/

What I basically did first was to apply concealer to my lips to give it a nude look (for I do not own a proper nude lipstick), and then try to change the shape of my brows with concealer, eye shadows, and a brow pencil. 

Can you notice how my brows have changed, and how that make me look different (or attempted to look different)?

Changing the shape of my brows was the most exhausting thing, because I had to use tons of concealers to hide my original brows. :P

I also applied a lot of bronzer and rosy brush to make my skin more tanned and yellow/reddish/brown. That's how I imagined her to be.

Then I did a bit of round smoky eyes. I don't wear smoky makeup myself... Actually I began to use eyeliner only a few months ago (and the whole female business of makeup a year ago!), so you can  fathom my level of expertise.. :P

I didn't want my high-schooler character, who does not really care as much about makeup as her taste in clothing, to wear a heavy makeup. That's for another character. But I wanted to create that look in her eyes. I also dabbed a LOT of red/brownish eyeshadows underneath my eyes so that I will have a huge dark shadow that would add up the gloomy mood, but unfortunately the pictures do not show as much.

Do I look a bit blunt, unsociable, gloomy, indifferent, apathetic, and rebellious?? X0
I think I do look different from the usual me. Definitely.

Oh, the last thing I did was drawing freckles in her nose and cheeks. (This is where I really messed up and it is the reason I had to add some effect on the pictures, because I really did a terrible job!)
You can see only a hint of freckles in the pictures therefore. :/

She doesn't smile a lot, but she does, but most of the times in secret.

Ji-Eun in a very happy mood -- probably when she is making art or something :D

Then I forgot that I was cosplaying and returned to myself :P

Er.. I hope my little "writer's day-off" does not affect my character in a bad way. I should also try not to fondle my character. ;)

It was my first time, it required a considerable effort, but now I guess it was pretty fun, too :)